The present invention relates to a wafery work receiving or delivering device suitable for collectively receiving or delivering a large number of wafery works such as silicon wafers.
In order to process the surfaces of silicon wafers, for example, by spattering, etching, etc., it is necessary to use a vacuum chamber. If unprocessed or processed wafers are put in to and out of the vacuum chamber in each process, not only does the vacuum within the chamber become deteriorated, but the chamber also becomes polluted by the entrance of dust particles from outdoors. In the past, silicon wafers were transferred to working positions in lying postures with the surfaces to be worked facing upward because this is the most stable position. Accordingly, two methods have been considered in the collective transfer of wafers in lying positions, that is, they can be tranferred in to or out of the vacuum chamber in transversely aligned relation on a jig plate or in a vertically piled relation with predetermined distances. However, in the former, the volume of the vacuum chamber must be enlarged because the area of one wafer is large and this lowers the volume effect, whereas in the latter, a complicated chucking mechanism is necessary for the reception or delivery of the wafers in the chamber.
Moreover, in transferring the wafers in a lying position, there is a great tendency for dust particles to adhere to their surfaces and for a slight eccentric load to be applied on the wafers which produces bending or internal stress processes, that adversely affect the subsequent fabrication of high density transistors and lowers the production yield.
The present invention aims to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and has as an object to provide a receiving or delivering device suitable for wafery works, such as silicon wafers, which are advantageously transferred in erect positions.
To achieve the above object, the device according to this invention comprises a work supporting means which has plural pairs of supporting grooves of a given pitch in order to support many wafering works in a column and which moves up and down between a stand-by position and a receiving or delivering position, and a pair of forks having supporting grooves of the same pitch as that of the work supporting means, characterized in that the work supporting means and the forks overlap each other so that the works supported on the work supporting means or on the forks can be collectively handed over to the forks or the work supporting means by the relative movement between them.